Holtek

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Holtek Semiconductor Inc.
Type Public
Founded 1983
Headquarters Hsinchu, Taiwan
Key people Keith Wu, Chairperson
Gordon Gau, President
Patty Li, Vice President
Chang Chi, Exec Vice President
Armstrong Tsai, Spokesperson
Industry Semiconductors
Products Microcontrollers, Memory
Computer Peripheral
Remote Control, Telecom
Power Management, Display Driver
Revenue 112.5 Million USD for 2006
Employees 584 as of June 2007
Website www.holtek.com/english/


Contents

[edit] Introduction

Holtek Semicondcutor is a major Taiwan based semiconductor design centre and provider. With its headquarters and design operations based in the Hsinchu Science Park in Taiwan, Holtek also has a major operating presence in mainland China as well as marketing centres throughout the world. Holtek's major design focus is in the area of 8-bit microcontroller development and has around 550 employees worldwide. Holtek also designs and provides a range of peripheral semiconductor products such as remote control, telecommunication, power management, computer peripheral, and memory devices. Holtek's device application area is heavily concentrated in the consumer product field such as household appliances, computer peripheral products, remote controllers, leisure products, medical equipment etc. as well as industrial controllers. The large volumes of Holtek microcontrollers manufactured over the years has seen their presence as the brains behind many well known home appliances and says much for the reliability of their devices. These include some European brand names such as Philips, Siemens, Marklin to name but a few. The company, although providing low cost controllers, is not over focussed on the typical Taiwanese cost-down approach, but rather in being able to offer special features that competitors dont have. A glance at the Holtek selection guide will reveal a wide range of device with many special integrated functions.

[edit] Company history

The company's origins go back to 1983 with the establishment of Holtek Semiconductor as a design house in Taipei. From the design of remote control, telecom and voice/music devices, the company moved quickly into the fast emerging microcontroller design area. In 1988 the company moved to the Hsinchu Science Park under the name of Holtek Microelectronics and began also its combined manufacturing and design operations. This was followed in 1998 by the establishment of Holtek Semiconductor Inc. as a pure design house with its device manufacturing contracted out. The decision to move out of the manufacturing and focus their energies in the design only area reflects the decision of many companies in the semiconductor design business. This decision seems to have been well founded witnessed by the subsequent growth of the company. Although perhaps not the name you would think of when microcontrollers are mentioned, Holtek has grown to become the largest designer and supplier of microcontroller devices in Taiwan. The company's development has enabled it to hold also a commanding position in the China Mainland with regard to microcontrollers.


[edit] Holtek products

Holtek's main design focus is directed towards its range of microcontrollers. The microcontrollers in the present Holtek range all contain a universal 8-bit RISC processor and with common features such as timers, external interrupts, power-down functions, low-voltage reset, bi-directional I/O pins etc. The range of microcontrollers support clock speeds from 32kHz up to 12MHz. Device specific features include functions such as EEPROM memory, A/D converters, LCD interfaces, USB interfaces, operational amplifiers, etc. Some of Holtek's 8-bit microcontroller major device categories are listed below:

Although the focus is on microcontrollers, Holtek continues to develop a large range of devices in other important areas, most of which could be classified as microcontroller perihperal devices. One important area is that of Low Dropout Regulators where Holtek has provided a comprehensive range of product offerings with the special characteristics of extremely low supply currents. Holtek also continues to support some of its traditional products such as Remote Control and Telecommunication devices, which were the products developed in the early days of Holtek but which are still in widespread use. Indeed the early HT12 series of Remote Control devices can still often be seen in DIY remote control projects, perhaps due to their easy availability and easy use. Some of Holtek's range of peripheral products includes the following device categories:

[edit] Holtek development tools

Hardware Emulator with Integrated Programmer
Hardware Emulator with Integrated Programmer

Holtek also supplies its IDE-3000 development system to support its full range of microcontroller devices. This is a suite of hardware and software development tools which includes real time hardware emulation and software simulation as well as tools for device programming of OTP and Flash type devices. Holtek's latest ICE In-Circuit Emulators also include an integrated device programming eliminating the need for separate programming tools. The separate programming tools can be operated in a stand alone mode without a PC connection. Lower cost development tools are provided with Holtek's starter kits.

[edit] Future development strategy

The bias toward a higher concentration of microcontrollers in the Holtek device product mix is expected to continue although peripheral products will continue to remain an important part of the device range. The microcontroller development strategy, in addition to higher functioning 8-bit devices and a move away from OTP types towards Flash types, will also see releases of a whole new range ARM based 32-bit capacity devices. The trend to provide devices of lower power in response to the profusion of battery powered consumer devices has also seen Holtek begin to release its TinyPower range of microcontroller devices.

[edit] Other Information

In recent years Holtek has worked closely with many Univesities in Taiwan and China to setup microcontroller development laboratories. While this effort is aimed at promoting microcontroller education among mainstream engineering courses it also serves to promote Holtek microcontroller devices among industries future engineers. In connection with this Holtek runs an annual microcontroller design competition where significant prizes are awarded for the best designs.

[edit] External links